Buying a House

[Picklz]

Many banks are agreeing to sell houses for less than the note that is currently on them, because they need to keep their cash flow going.

My friend just signed a Purchase Agreement on a Town home, the current owners owed 160k if i remember correctly, and the bank agreed to $145k and they are paying 3% down + 3% closing costs, so there are nice deals to be had. This is going to vary quite a bit by location, condition of property, and the bank your dealing with.

 

[ZoomZoom Diva]

Consider your time horizon in this house. If you are planning to live here more than a few years, the most important factor is that it needs to be a house you will enjoy living in. I would not focus excessively on what might be the least expensive or the best deal, but the house you will like to live in the most. Also, while location drives prices, consider the location you want to live in more than the location that may be popular to the market in general.

In the long run, having a house you love to live in where you want to live in good sound condition is a lot more valuable than a little higher payment or a little less when it's time to step up.

 

[YSOSLO]

That's true. Don't compromise on how you "feel" about a home, but if you find a few that feel about the same, THEN start looking at the other items we've mentioned above. One other thing I figured I'd mention only because one of my buddies made this HUGE mistake last summer...make sure you look at where your home is on a detailed map, because he and his wife ended up buying a place with an active train tracks about 100 feet behind their house and had no clue until a freight train came rolling through with it's horn wailing...lol Unbelievable!

 

[dmention7]

One thing also once you've found a solid candidate, cruise the neighborhood several times at different times of day. It may be less of a concern when you're buying a townhouse in the suburbs, but we were looking for a place inside minneapolis where the feel of the neighborhood can change quite a bit block to block. If we had looked a bit closer than we did, we might have noticed that our neighbor across the alley likes to blare his truck's stereo whenever he's outside or in the garage.... lol Not that it would probably have made much of a difference, but still.

 

[Workdawg]

Well... we went and talked to a "Mortgage Consultant" with Edina Realty last night looking for Preapproval. Things went well. We got easily preapproved for the amount we were hoping for and the estimated payment is affordable.

Next step is going to look at places. We are out of town this weekend, so that'll likely start next week.


Jeff posted this in the chatbox... saving it for later as it will likely be useful.
http://www16.co.hennepin.mn.us/pins/addrsrch.jsp

 

[Picklz]

Excellent, make sure you figure in PMI, Property Taxes, and Association dues in the monthly payment if they aren't already in the sample Good Faith Estimate you probably got to look at.

Also the tax and sale information is available in any county, some have them online and are easily searchable, but if they don't you can visit the courthouse for that county and get the information that way.

 

[Workdawg]

Yeah, all that stuff was in the estimate we got. She estimated high for everything... high interest rate, high taxes, high HOA... even high downpayment, lol. I put 3% in the application, so that's what she used even though FHA is only 2.25% apparently.

 

[WhiteSpy9]

If you study high.... and take the test high.... you get high scores...?

Glad to hear you are pre-approved! I just closed with Edina Reality last night. The closing officer lady was really nice.

Get some more good faith estimates when you have some free time! Unless you have the sellers paying the closing costs, you could be saving yourself some out of pocket cashish.

 

[mazdamn02]

My mouth is shut when it comes to my opinion of edina realty...

GL with the house search Dan!

 

[DrWebster]

My mouth is shut when it comes to my opinion of edina realty...

We had no problems with them, used them for the house search, mortgage and closing.

 

[ZoomZoom Diva]

Well, high down payment is going to mean a lower payment, but 0.75% of the purchase price is not likely to move the payment significantly.

On property taxes... if you're serious about a house, make sure they have the information correct, particularly on big items like bedrooms and bathrooms (mine were overstated on both, because they assumed the den had the optional bedroom and 3/4 bath).

 

[Jenny]

Hey so thanks for all the help from everyone So the agent that we are working with for the time being till ours gets back from vacation is setting up for us to look at 6 house's in one night. I don't think that is possible but i could be wrong does anyone think this is to many places to look at at once?

 

[WhiteSpy9]

Nope! looks at as many as you can.
You'll know when you find the right one!

Bring the lists for each one and take notes if you can.... What you liked/didn't like....and good luck!

 

[Jenny]

Thanks!

 

[dmention7]

I think we averaged about 5 houses/trip when we were shopping. Especially this early in the game, you're going to want to see as many as possible. Andy has a good suggestion with the notepad. Jot things down, sketch floorplans, etc and then review what you saw when you get home. Make lists of specific things that you liked and disliked about certain homes especially things that may not be easy to recall just by looking at the online listings.

 

[ZoomZoom Diva]

The notepad is a great idea. When you're looking for new construction, it's easy because you get brochures with everything you need right there (just add notes).

However, I wouldn't spend the time sketching and going into too much detail if the place fails the initial test. I found you can find that most places will be a definite no or maybe within the first quick pass through the rooms.

 

[YSOSLO]

Pics can be good too if there's something specific about a house that stands out for you, rather than trying to remember which place had the jacuzzi tub or which one had the huge deck with no stairs or whatever. With viewing so many places in one night your memory can start to mix-up which house had what etc. Volume is great, but using some sort of system to organize your thoughts and feelings about each place helps a lot. I'm a big House Hunters fan (HGTV) and people on there have even used a number rating system to rate on a scale of 1-10 each room of the house, curb appeal, garage, yard etc. to help them decide which houses rate the highest to help them narrow it down.

 

[LASERBLUE135]

However, I wouldn't spend the time sketching and going into too much detail if the place fails the initial test. I found you can find that most places will be a definite no or maybe within the first quick pass through the rooms.

I agree. You'll know right away if a house is a miss, just tell your agent that you want out of there. There were places that I spent less than 30 seconds at when I was house shopping.

And remember (no matter how much you like him/her) that your agent is a salesman, so trust yourself - not your agent. I'm sooooo jelous that I'm not house shopping right now, the deals out there are killer! Good luck.

 

[mndsm]

Pics can be good too if there's something specific about a house that stands out for you, rather than trying to remember which place had the jacuzzi tub or which one had the huge deck with no stairs or whatever. With viewing so many places in one night your memory can start to mix-up which house had what etc. Volume is great, but using some sort of system to organize your thoughts and feelings about each place helps a lot. I'm a big House Hunters fan (HGTV) and people on there have even used a number rating system to rate on a scale of 1-10 each room of the house, curb appeal, garage, yard etc. to help them decide which houses rate the highest to help them narrow it down.

I really like the pic idea. Easier to compare direct visuals than it is to compare notes, and with today's technology, even a cell phone can do the job.

 

[DrWebster]

Geez, we probably looked at 40 houses when we were house hunting. When we saw the townhome we eventually bought, we initially ranked it as #1, then two other houses we liked (just not quite as much) as #2 and #3. If any shit went down in negotiations with #1, we were ready to move on. We made our real estate agent work for her money, but she was awesome the entire time and we will definitely work with her again.